Table of Contents 1.

How often do you think about the origins of place names? The study of the origin of words, including place names is called etymology, and it explores how words and their meanings have changed over time. Many place names are descriptive, talking about the landscape that the town or village is built within, perhaps the hill it stands on or the crossing point in the river. The city of Hereford is the perfect example of this, literally meaning ford here, referring to the perfect point to cross the mighty river Wye.

Many places though are named after animals or birds and some are easily recognisable. Take Ravenscourt Park or Swanage for example. Sometimes, they combine landscape and a bird, like Cranbourne, meaning Crane’s burn (stream) or Finchley. Lea is an old word for meadow, and this has been shorted to -ly or -ley in many place names across the UK, mostly referring to a meadow belonging to a person, but occasionally referring to animals or birds that presumably were found there. What sort of finches were to be found in Finchley is something we can only speculate about, but it’s interesting to consider.

Perhaps these were places where these species were uncommonly abundant; maybe the only places for some distance where they occurred. In either case, it’s likely that the birds for which they were named held some special significance to the people who first came up with the name.

It seems to be more common these days to see names like this pop up in modern housing estates but often there is little connection between the location and those species.

So, thinking of this, if it fell to you to name your village, town, or perhaps a local park or nature reserve, or maybe just the road you live on, what would you call it?

I’ve been mulling over ideas for the road I live on in a village on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Right now, at the height of summer, the most noticeable bird inhabitants are the House Martins. They, with their newly fledged young, fill the skies above the gardens and chatter from their nests on the gable ends of each house. But then they’re not here in winter, so maybe House Martin Way would be confusing.

Perhaps Dunnock Drive would be a good one. They’re definitely a species that is present all year round, so there’s no harm of missing them in the cooler months, but they’re so ubiquitous that maybe the problem would be distinguishing this road from all the others round here?

It took a lot more consideration than I had expected, but I finally settled on a name: Barn Owl Boulevard. I am exceedingly fortunate to have these beautiful raptors hunt over my garden since we are surrounded by fields on two sides. It’s not uncommon to see them on our road, but elsewhere in the village, they are less often seen between the houses. The “Boulevard” might be a bit much, but there are quite a few trees along the road, and I like the alliterative nature of it!